Why do we smile and baffle neuroscience even when they suffer | Science
Some human behaviors have a daily, simple, but expressive appearance. One of them is called scientists Gargalasis and The rest of the humans know tickles. Even if you do not want them, it can cause an attack on involuntary and uncontrolled laughter. From Aristotle to Darwin They were surprised About physical and cognitive mechanisms that shoot with tickles. However, and in spite of its little thing, science does not understand them.
It is not known why certain areas of the body are sensitive to others than others. Or why it is like that They tickle themOthers hate it. A person is not entirely understood why he cannot tickle himself. In short: The main function of ghargalasis remains an enigma in humans, as well as in the primets of other species.
Constantina Matte is an Institute researcher, where Cerebral Cognition and Behavior (Netherlands), and years ago Work in experiments Analyzes how the human brain detects between self -production and external touch. And even though she personally hated tickles – he admitted that “I hate them that they do them” – she is intoxicated with her study.
“There are many implications we do not usually consider in the Gargalesis study,” Killeni explained to El Pace. The scientist believes that the tickle study contributes to the understanding of sensomotor neuroscience and people’s understanding in people in children With schizophrenia. “Tickles are a useful pattern to study the complex interaction between movement, sensation and social cases, which originated in many fields of science,”
With this inspiration, the scientist published Wednesday The magazine Science Advanced It raises five basic questions that are still pending answers about tickles and there is no perfect answer for it. Scientists are already a little closer.
Why are some areas of the body more sensitive?
The soles of the feet and armpits are usually a weak point of tickles Performed in evidence Made in children and the elderly. The most obvious answer to this question is usually physical. That is, we think we have more tickles in areas with more sensitivity to touch or pain. However, this is not so. The soles of the foot and the armpits of the skin are not the highest density of sensory receptors, but to detect skin stimuli.
That is why they have been proposed for years Some alternative theories. “In particular, it has been suggested that areas with great tenderness of tickle in the melee fight can be very harmful,” Matte said. Therefore, tickle is a reflection of evolution of survival. However, this hypothesis is questioned, because there are areas that cause more harm during the fight, such as arms, which are not particularly tingling.
Darwin claims to have a tickle relationship Contact Diversity. “He suggests that our armpits are usually not touched. It explains why it often realizes that unexpected massage is not Tickle”
Why do we even laugh when we don’t enjoy tickles?
Explains the sensations produced by tingling: with the elements of happiness and pain. Baby experiments They have confirmed this idea because they are from positive and negative conditions: both seek contact and avoid it. It is also used as a duality produced by tickles, as a method of violence During World War II.
Statistics of An experimental study They also said that they were also reality with 84 people. One -third of people will find tickle (some have also included them in their sexual behavior), another third of the indifference and the last third is not enjoying them.
Now, why do they always produce laughs? “As a social behavior, laughter communicates different emotions and has different meanings from happiness and happiness to shame and aggressive.” Some Studies have been analyzed The verbal properties of different parameters and laughter are produced by ticks and compare them with heartfelt laughter. And it turns out that they are different laughs. The researcher says that the happiness in Tickles is “an primitive response, a reflection rather than happiness.”
Why can’t we irritate ourselves?
This science has no doubts: tickles They are not motivated by themselves. The reasons are not entirely clear. Darwin has proposed that the surprising factor plays the basic role. “One cannot tickle himself because he knows when and where he will be acquainted,” captures Matte.
The general description – and Is very accepted– To save resources, the brain can assess and suppress the sensations of self -production. That is why the understanding of the touch we make is attenut. The author insists that further studies are needed to verify this hypothesis.
Why are some more sensitive?
It is very complicated to answer this question with the hardness of the scientific method. The Studies done Every participants perceive tingling differently because they are difficult to assess. “We still don’t know whether it is for physical causes or personality symptoms,” Matte said.
Understanding these differences are one of the main challenges for tickle scholars, because tactile experiences depend on the combination of unique and complex factors not only on the receptors of the skin, but also from genetic and physics to more inconsistent psychological and cognitive conditions. That is, it is very difficult to loosen the lottery of individual factors. They affect the vision of the skin FF, how neurons respond.
Generally, it is also thought that children are more sensitive to tickles than adults. This is This can be explained From the perspective of evolution: greater tenderness helps children develop laughter and subsequently, their humor in puberty.
Differences between tickles in children and adults can also be explained by more search for strong emotions in young children, without tickling themselves. Another dead end for neuroscience.
What is the evolutionary performance of tickles?
There are some scientists who justify the idea that Tickles play a key role for our ancestors’ monkeys and first humans. Others believe that they are a by -product of other tactile awareness and, of course, that they have no evolutionary benefit or disadvantage; They were there. “It can be a social activities, a game policy or have emotional and connecting elements,” Matte said.
WHO They justify the first idea They pointed out that tingling is essential to teach young people to prepare for a melee war and to awaken self -defense to protect areas in the body. But they also believe in a social theory: Tickling is a playful behavior that can be used to promote relationships between couples, friends and family members. Critics argue that if this is a gesture of a social nature, it is contradictory that people are naturally moving away from shock before stimulating the tickle.
